Join (virtually) a PERC Workshop Aug. 31-Sept. 4 on water policy
PERC Workshop
Water Markets: Why Not More?
PERC office, Bozeman, Montana
Directed by Terry L. Anderson
August 31–September 4, 2009
Long before there was an Earth Day, people protected the quality of their air, streams, and land through common-law court cases. This approach was more successful than people usually think and offers an alternative to still more government regulation, say Roger E. Meiners and Bruce Yandle in a path-breaking new paper, "The Common Law: How It Protects the Environment."
71 articles, posts, and studies on water policy issues from the National Center for Policy Analysis E-Team. Beginning with: "Removing Government from U.S. Water Supply May Make Safer."
• Property rights and western United States water markets, January, 2009
This paper addresses water scarcity issues in the American West and examines the allocation of water through the appropriative rights system and the extent markets are used to reallocate water from low- to high-valued uses.
(link to full study)Improvements in information technology now make it possible to monitor outcomes at lower cost and, therefore, to emphasize river basin and watershed management as opposed to managing point sources. These same improvements in information technology also make it possible to realign responsibility for improving water quality. States, localities, and watershed associations can experiment with a variety of institutional arrangements, incentive systems, and technical innovations. The federal EPA can focus its efforts on monitoring outcomes, achieving consistency in the measurement of water quality, and sharing the knowledge that is learned from experience. (link to full study)
This article examines the development of water law in the West and suggests reliance on a common law rather than a central planning, regulatory regime. Part One describes the common law water rights system and its development in the West. Part Two surveys how courts in Montana and Wyoming dealt with water law issues in the nineteenth century. Part Three traces the development and spread of the “Wyoming System” of central planning for water. Part Four compares the common law and central planning as devices for allocating water. Part Five concludes by drawing lessons for modern water markets and other areas of environmental policy and for the development of water markets from the common law experience with water rights. (PERC page with link to article.)
(Enviro topic sections coming soon.)
Resources & Recycling Study Guide. Click to view in Adobe Acrobat (16 pages)